As shown in FIG. 1, base stations (Base Transceiver Stations, BTS) 1 in a mobile communication network provide wireless communication with mobile stations (MS) 2. Each BTS 1 has a limited range and therefore limited coverage area so that many base stations with adjacent coverage areas are needed to provide contiguous service to the mobile stations. The coverage area of a BTS is also referred to as a radio cell. In a cellular network of this kind, several Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) 3 typically exist that, on one hand, provide connections of the mobile network to other communication networks such as, for example, the wire line public switched telephone network (PSTN) 4, and on the other hand are typically connected to several Base Station Controllers (BSC) 5 that, in turn, typically control several BTSs in a geographical area. Since the MSC, BSC and BTS are typically in different locations, transmission facilities 6, 7 are required between these locations which could take the form of transmission lines, microwave radio links, or sometimes satellite links.
In conventional mobile communication networks today, the configuration and integration of new base stations is a very complex, time-consuming and error-prone task that requires careful planning and manual execution by the network operator's skilled engineering staff. Configuration of radio base stations with a number of parameters and their integration into the surrounding network is necessary to facilitate proper and interference-free operation of the base stations themselves, and also their interoperation with other neighboring base stations, in particular with regards to “roaming” and “handover”. Roaming means the uninterrupted accessibility of a mobile device for making or receiving phone calls or other wireless communication while traveling through the service areas of different base stations. Handover means the uninterrupted continuation of an ongoing wireless communication while the mobile device is moving from the service area of one base station into that of another base station.
The parameters that need to be defined for each base station and coordinated with parameters of other base stations include radio frequencies, transmit power levels, lists and parameters of neighboring base stations (neighbor lists), and several numbering schemes, including the Base Station Identity Code (BSIC), the Cell Identifier (CI) and the Location Area Identifier (LAI). These parameters need to be entered not only into the base stations themselves but into other network elements as well, namely the corresponding BSCs and MSCs. Furthermore, reconfiguration of existing base stations and other network elements becomes necessary as new base stations are added or other changes occur in the network. The effort and cost of this work is immense, given the large number and high geographical density of conventional base stations in present-day cellular networks.
Another issue addressed here is the mobility of iBSs and the verification process for checking if an iBS is in the licensed area or not. This is a new problem, since in the past the base stations were owned and installed by the carrier. By introducing a new generation of base stations which are much smaller and can easily be moved (unlike cell towers), mobility of “fixed” base stations is an issue which is addressed here as well.